Fall River favors Markey over Gomez; voter turnout fails to top 15 percent

With the unofficial local results for Massachusetts’ special U.S. Senate election tallied Tuesday night, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey carried the city by a wide margin over his opponent, Republican Gabriel Gomez, and third party candidate Richard Heos.

With the unofficial local results for Massachusetts’ special U.S. Senate election tallied Tuesday night, U.S. Rep. Edward Markey carried the city by a wide margin over his opponent, Republican Gabriel Gomez, and third party candidate Richard Heos.

The Democrat earned 4,446 votes, or 64.4 percent, over Gomez’s 2,390 votes, or 34.6 percent. Heos finished a distant third with 58 votes, less than one percent.

Only 6,920 voters out of a total 47,165 registered voters citywide turned out for the election to fill the seat vacated when former Sen. John Kerry was appointed U.S. Secretary of State.

Statewide, Markey carried about 54 percent of the vote to 45 percent for Gomez, with the Associated Press calling the election at around 9:15 p.m. About 82 percent of precincts had reported.

Election officials statewide and in the city had anticipated a low turnout. In Fall River, less than 15 percent of city voters cast their ballot.

Markey won in Somerset, with 53 percent of the vote, while Gomez carried both Swansea and Westport.

When the polls closed at 8 p.m. at Government Center’s two precincts, only 373 voters had cast ballots. And throughout the day there was rarely ever a line to check in prior to casting a ballot.

Poll employees said they felt the hot weather may have played a part in the low turnout, though it was higher than expected.

Elizabeth Camara, the city’s board of elections chairwoman, estimated the total cost of running the election to be in the neighborhood of $23,000. She said the city should receive a reimbursement for election costs from the state.

One man, who declined to be identified, said upon exiting the polls that he felt it was time to “tighten the belt.” He said he voted for Gomez and said he is currently employed by the city police department, and is a former welfare employee as well as a former Navy enlistee.

A group of local Markey supporters gathered and cheered the election results at Adagio Piano Lounge on South Main Street.

“The fact that (Markey) was open about the issues he cared about, like women’s rights and the environment, made all the difference,” said supporter Deb Fastino, who also serves as executive director of the Coalition for Social Justice in Fall River.